Monday, September 9, 2013

The Trip

It was the year 2010, when I and Sneha were married in a typical Indian arranged marriage, much to the happiness of our families. It always takes a longer time to acquaint yourselves to a new person in life and being in an arranged marriage, we are no different, given that we hardly spoke to each other before the wedding. I am a travel enthusiast and Sneha is a good listener, which is what most of our conversations are framed around – travel! She listens to all my stories with childish enthusiasm and enjoys the photographs that I had taken during my trips and was inquisitive about the details. I wondered many times that it was only with these stories that I was developing a rapport with her, but I was happy that we were getting closer.

One day, I was searching the home office for some of my papers but had no luck. And I thought that maybe Sneha has mistakenly put them in one of her drawers and went to look for them. It seemed like an intrusion into a personal space, because I had never touched any of her personal belongings without her knowledge. While disturbing the neatly folded clothes my eyes came across her wedding sari, which for a moment took me back to memories of my wedding. Reaching for it, I realized that it was wrapping something. Unfolding it, I found a diary and was surprised to find it hidden. I never read anyone’s diary but curiosity led me into it. Nonchalantly I kept the clothes back tucked the diary at my back covering it with my shirt and went to the bathroom locking myself in. It was a nice shock to know that my wife is a poet, she has written wonderful romances with a very deep understanding, that talked about everything about love and to her own expectations to get a likeminded partner in life. After skimming through few pages, there was a page titled bucket list, she had dreamt of travelling a lot, enlisting many places in India and abroad. Now it was clear on why she was so curious and eager for my travel stories. I was happy my curiosity took me deeper in to my wife’s heart.

From that moment I was determined to surprise her with a breath-taking travel experience on our anniversary so it would be our first trip together after marriage. I searched for different packages online and got a cheaper deal with an excellent itinerary at yatra.com. I went to their office and opted for a personalized tour. Sneha’s signature was easy to forge, given that it was just alphabets with no labyrinths and submitted her photo from my wallet’s album. All the documentation work was done in a jiffy with the help of their representative. After few days, I got a call from yatra.com informing me that the Visa is ready and I am all set to go. I was so happy that everything had worked according to the plan and that day when I returned home, I asked her to pack her clothes and get ready in less than two hours. She was amazed at me hurrying and was bewildered on the emergency and asked me several times about it but I just said her to get ready and will know all. The same night we reached Delhi and all the way I could see a mixture of both surprise and confusion on her face. We then reached T3 done with our immigration and it was then near the boarding gate she saw ‘Venice’ on the screen. All she could say was “Really?”, with an excitement veiled face and I could see this was the best thing that I could have done for her.

We checked in our hotel in Venice in the evening and took rest. Next day we started our tour to Venice seeing the exquisite monuments, the crowd around and cherishing the history. My wife looking radiant and her sari was feeling the breeze of Venice and I knew that moment that I actually love my wife and she was all I could ask. I had this sudden gut feeling, like the Gods chose a perfect wife for me. Venice was a blessing. Building castles in the air. Floating like a breeze fleeting by. I knew this was the perfect vacation for her. Too many shots on a holiday, I just felt like I needed to wind up. Embrace her a little. Venice was indeed the place to be at that moment. Filled with delicacies and eyebrow rising moments that left us wishing for more. That day was the perfect day in my life. The beautiful city we walking together, then we took a gondola, had the most delicious Italian food but she made dishes better than a renowned chef. I was so proud of her. I will never forget that moment when she embraced me in a tight hug and screamed at the world that there was no moment perfect than what she had at that time. We visited the nearby islands the next day and had a walking tour of the city. We took a late night train to Pisa and next morning it was the most memorable day of my life. It was a perfect sunrise, the rays striking an amazing rainbow at our window and the leaning tower playing hide and seek. I didn’t want to leave the sight of her. We went to the piazza dei miracoli and it was the major attraction. The same day we took a train to ROME.

I guess it is true that goodbyes are harder than hallos. As our vacation was coming to an end, the twinkle in my wife’s eyes said it all. As much as it was sad to leave ROME, we had thrived in pleasure and the memories we shared kept us closer than before. My wife, always budding with appreciation could no longer resist the urge to ask how I had decided a vacation in ROME. Well I found that a little awkward but thank the stars for my charm. I simply whisked her away to a candle lit dinner setting assuring her of even more surprises. As the day to leave finally dawned, we had marvellous views of some of Rome's most famous jewels including St Peters, Castel Sant'Angelo,Trevi fountain, coliseum and the Janiculum (Gianicolo) hill. There’s a belief that when you and a special someone get to visit the Trevi fountain and toss a coin into the fountain, you might be guaranteed a return trip to ROME. Though we didn’t do that, I knew that this wasn’t our last goodbye...All hail ROME! And thanks to Yatra for creating a special time in our lives!!